Employee benefits help to get the best human resources. Business concept.

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A listing for a warehouse worker for Steelite International America includes 16 different benefits. Among them are an annual holiday party, a flexible medical and dependent spending account, employee discounts and even pet insurance, which it calls a new benefit for those employees who feel their four-legged family members deserve health insurance.

As larger employers seek to stand out in a competitive jobs market, it pays to think outside the box.

“We see a lot of larger companies getting more creative with their benefits and they may have more resources to do that than smaller employers,” says Kimberly Pleva, senior marketing and management lecturer at Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business Administration.

What kinds of benefits will attract great employees and keep them in your organization?

Maybe you should ask them.

“People make a huge mistake with just saying, ‘Okay, I think our people will want this,’ and they just push out a benefit,” says Tim Petrey, founder and CEO of White Glove Payroll, as well as the CEO of HD Growth Partners, “And then, it’s not what they wanted and now they spend all this extra money on this benefit and the employees aren’t happy.”

According to the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2024 Employee Benefits Survey, health-related benefits remain at the top of the list of importance with 88% saying they are very or extremely important.

Retirement savings and planning benefits, as well as leave benefits each follow at 81%.

From there, employees are seeking flexible working benefits (70%), family-friendly benefits (67%) and professional and career development benefits (65%).

Rounding out the top 12 benefits are financial nonretirement, wellness, education, technology, transportation and housing and relocation benefits.

Petrey suggests companies with 50 or more employees should hire a consultant to annually review health insurance and other benefits.

For instance, if a business is offering a salary and benefit package costing $100,000, but the employee is not using $20,000 of those benefits, there are cost savings that can be found, he says.

The YSU students Pleva teaches about human resources management often do not themselves see the importance of health insurance benefits because they are still on their parents’ insurance plans and do not know what insurance costs.

“I try to educate them, this is going to become more important, as you get older. But no, that’s not on their radar,” Pleva says, adding she also talks about the importance of investing in 401(k) programs, especially when there is a match.

Instead of those traditional benefits, Pleva says college students heading into the workforce are more interested in flexible work environments, including opportunities to work from home or four 10-hour shifts a week. That offers three days off, providing more work-life balance. Even some part-time positions are offering limited benefits.

Flexibility, including hybrid work, continues to be popular with employees long after the pandemic made working from home a necessity for some employees.

The 2024 SHRM Employee Benefit Survey found 63% of employers offer hybrid work and 56% continue to offer subsidies for at-home work equipment. For 96% of those offering it, office technology is covered, followed by general office supplies (63%) and cellphone service coverage (35%).

GENERATION Z

But working from home is not something many Generation Z employees (people born between 1997 and 2012) are looking for, according to Christina O’Connell, director of the Center for Career Management at YSU’s Williamson College of Business Administration.

“Since Covid, they went through junior high and high school being online for a lot of it,” O’Connell says, “and they don’t want the remote opportunities… they want the opportunity to be in person and working with others.”

But there can be a tradeoff too. O’Connell says Generation Z also wants a higher salary and she sees students comparing a Mahoning Valley job with lower pay with a higher paying job 45 minutes away and being willing to live here where the cost of living is lower and commute. That’s especially true if the job offers the hybrid option with fewer days in the office.

Another important thing can be transparency, Petrey says.

“People want to understand how they can move along in their career,” he says. “They want to understand if they’re doing a good job or a bad job… how they’re progressing and the things they can do to be better.”

Along with that, he suggests that providing training or coaching can be valuable. More employers have covered professional development expenses in 2024 than in 2020, according to the SHRM survey, including both training to keep skills current and upskill training to improve skills.

Pleva says many students want to attend graduate school. So tuition reimbursement or continuing education and a chance to see a clear path to move up within the company is important to them.

Tuition assistance or helping employees pay off student loans can be a better selling point for younger employees than a health insurance program that covers everything.

“There’s some great tuition assistance programs that have been rolled out and supported by the IRS and the federal government over the course of the last couple of years,” Petrey says.

These programs can allow employers to pay for up to $5,000 of the employee’s student loans without paying income taxes on it and the employer is able to write it off.

While it can get expensive if there are a lot of employees taking advantage of the program, paying off student loans can take some pressure off employees and allow them to consider buying a home or other commitments that can lead to long-term retention.

WELLNESS, WORK/LIFE BALANCE

Another consideration is employing a wellness coordinator to check on employees and make sure they have what they need to do their jobs. For instance, Petrey says in his organization, the wellness coordinator is a valuable member of the team, bringing in yoga instructors as well as improving the office environment, making employees feel heard and helping employees to understand the other benefit resources available.

Supporting employees’ passions also can be beneficial, which Petrey says can be more about taking the time to listen.

“Our students and the employees in the area are looking for jobs that not only provide financial security,” Pleva says. “Certainly they are looking for competitive pay in wages. But really they are looking for a total rewards strategy, which would be benefits that are supporting their health and wellness, their overall well-being.”

Beyond just providing for mental health assistance, Petrey suggests employees may like recognition for their accomplishments and rewards and incentives.

“Much of mental health (problems) in the workplace is a result of not being heard, not being seen or not being appreciated,” Petrey says, adding regular feedback can alleviate fears or concerns.

Retirement plan provider Empower recently found one in five employees in the U.S. are seeking unlimited paid time off as a benefit of their next job, while the SHRM survey found only 7% of employers are offering a paid open or unlimited leave policy, which was down from 8% in 2023.

O’Connell says when a job offers a work/life balance such as more vacation time, some students see that as more important than the higher salary. Unlike millennials who were willing to leave a job every three or four years, O’Connell says this generation also wants a chance to be heard by their employer, to grow with the company and to give back.

Beyond vacation time and sick leave, there are other options employers are looking at for paid time off.

With an aging population, the chances of an employee needing time off to care for an elderly parent or spouse is increasing.

The SHRM survey also found that across the country 40% of companies offer paid parental leave, 39% paid maternity leave, 32% paid paternity leave and 50% offer paid time off to vote. While the SHRM survey also found 73% of employers offer a room for lactating mothers, assistance with child care remains a small number. Only 3% are offering a subsidized childcare center and 2% are offering unsubsidized child care.

However, with budget restraints and the economy, some employers are pulling back on some benefits such as free coffee, employee paid snacks and beverages, company-owned cell phones and on-site stress management programs.